When do I give up?

[Diane H]

Thank you to all who answered my earlier questions about incubating and hatching eggs. Much appreciated.
We’ve had a good hatch. A dozen out of 16 eggs have hatched and the chicks all look great.
We have four left and they are now three days overdue. No pips on them. When do I give up on them?
Thanks
Diane

 

[chickenlittle21]

What day are you on? Are all the chicks dry?

 

[Diane H]

What day are you on? Are all the chicks dry?

So the chicks that have hatchedonce they’re dry and fluffy I’ve taken them out and put them in the brooder. And they’re all doing very well. It’s now day 24 for these remaining 4 eggs.

 

[chickenlittle21]

Candle the eggs to see if they internally pipped

 

[Diane H]

Candle the eggs to see if they internally pipped

We did that last night and I couldn’t tell quite frankly. Doesn’t look like it.

 

[chickenlittle21]

We did that last night and I couldn’t tell quite frankly. Doesn’t look like it.

Did you see any movement when you candled the eggs?

 

[Diane H]

Did you see any movement when you candled the eggs?

Possibly in one of them. Not significant movement though.

 

[Eggscaping]

Possibly in one of them. Not significant movement though.

Do they smell bad? If you pick one up, do you here any cheeping? If you play a YouTube recording of a mama clucking to her chicks and the chicks cheeping back, do you hear any cheeping from the eggs? I had one hatch at 25 days, but when we were going to throw it away, it cheeped!